EUROPE — Detectorists find WWII Treasure buried in forest…

I must confess I envy those guys with enough time to wander the woods and the beaches with their metal detectors. Even if they’re not actually treasure-hunting, these fellows often find amazing pieces with historic value which end up in museums or make awesome memorabilia of times past.

However, finding a WWII motorcycle buried in the woods is no everyday treat. Unfortunately there’s no info as of where was this machine found, but we’re looking at a bike which may be as old as 80 years old.

According to web resources, I’d say this is either a Red October (Krasnyi Oktyabr) L-300 machine, or the original DKW Luxus 300 the Russians got their “inspiration” from. If any of you has enough expertise to pinpoint the origin of the bike, please share your mighty knowledge with us!

As far as history has things, DKW had licensed the production of the Luxus 300 to the Russians, and they started building their own version in a plant in Leningrad (Sankt Petersburg), funnily adding that the L stood for the city’s name.

The L-300 got the Krasnyi Oktyabr brand name but at the same time taking a plunge in performance, because of the very lousy gas Russia was using. What started up as an elegant German two-wheeler, ended up with a 25% weaker engine (around 6 HP). Production moved to an Izh plant, as the Tremass and Promet plants could not make these bikes in sufficient numbers.

Now, seeing this machine properly id’d and restored would indeed be terrific!

The spitfires were never found…too much ground water to continue the dig….it would appear that it was artificially buried from the depth that it was in the ground…many items from both WW1 and WW2 were ordered destroyed on the spot or buried…someone may have thought about returning in a short time, but for what ever the reason they did not….